Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Brian Wynter continues to push for the Jamaican public to join the bank in concentrating on the achievement of low inflation targets rather than the appreciation or depreciation of the Jamaican dollar against its US counterpart. “The important thing is inflation, not the exchange rate,” Wynter said. Pointing to several [...]

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor Brian Wynter (second left) addresses journalists at Wednesday's quarterly media briefing, held at the BOJ Auditorium, downtown Kingston. Flanking the governor are (from left) deputy governors Dr Wayne Robinson, Maureen Simms, and Livingstone Morrison. (Photo: JIS) The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has predicted a “modest acceleration” in real GDP (gross [...]

Rating agency AM Best this week downgraded the credit ratings of NCB Insurance Company Ltd (NCBIC) from “bb+” to “bb” reflecting its increased exposure to Government of Jamaica bonds against the backdrop of a depreciating local currency. In a news release on Wednesday, AM Best reasoned that the rating action reflects NCBIC's growing concentration in [...]

AP In this August 9, 2018 photo, head of NextOn Choi Jae Bin explains his farm's crop cultivation system next to sesame leaves growing on vertically stacked styrofoams at the tunnel-based vertical indoor farm NextOn in Okcheon, South Korea. (AP) Post Behind a blue wall that seals a former highway tunnel stretches a massive indoor [...]

It was a rare event for Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited. The insurance and banking conglomerate's profit for the second quarter ending June fell 14 per cent year-on-year due, in part, to the fallout from sovereign bonds held by its investment subsidiary. Weeks before the quarter closed, the Barbados government had defaulted on its foreign debt, [...]

BANK of Jamaica Governor Bryan Wynter yesterday confirmed the bank's decision to hold the policy interest rate at two per cent, despite concerns about low inflation. Wynter told a BOJ press briefing yesterday that the decision reflects the central bank's updated assessment that inflation, which is currently below target, will rise towards the floor of [...]

In this June 1, 2018, file photo ironworkers construct a commercial and residential building in Philadelphia. Despite a strong economy, about 40 per cent of American families struggled to meet one of their basic needs last year, according to a new study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization. That includes paying for food, [...]

Rainforest Seafoods Limited sent its first shipment of live lobsters to China on Monday. Seen here, (from left) are Rainforest Managing Director Brian Jardim, Minister of Industry, Commerce Agriculture & Fisheries Audley Shaw, custom broker Wesley Gordon and Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Osbil Watson. Rainforest Seafoods Limited shipped off their first orders of 2,000 live [...]

(CNN)Puerto Rico's government raised its official Hurricane Maria death toll to 2,975 on Tuesday in the wake of a new estimate from researchers. The new figure is 46 times larger than the previous toll the Puerto Rican government released in December 2017, when officials said 64 people had died as a result of the storm. [...]

A dangerous dog insurance policy is chief among several measures veteran plastic surgeon Dr Guyan Arscott wants the Government to look into as debate intensifies about the century-old legislations pertaining to dogs, following the killing of 66-year-old Whittington Cole by dogs recently. Arscott was making a presentation to editors and reporters at the Jamaica Observer [...]